Latch controlled compressor



Dec. 7, 1943.

c.,w. STRAUBEL LATCH CONTROLLED COMPRESSOR original Filed oci. 18, 1941'l czawe Wisfraubez, kwwo Patented Dec. 7, 1943 f @UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE Clarence W. Straubel, Youngstown, Ohio, Ias'sgnor to The GeneralFireproong Company, Youngstown, Ohio, a'corporation of Ohio v OriginalVapplication October 18, 1941, Serial No.

415,611. Divided and this Y y 1943, Serial No. 494,064

' (cl. 12e- 26) 2 Claims.

This invention is a division of my application, Serial No. 415,611, ledOctober 18, 1941, Patent No. 2,330,318, dated September 28, 1943,relating to filing cabinets and more particularly to an improvement infiling drawers.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a drawer with a frontcompressor plate which, when the drawer is pulled open, may be manuallymoved from its inwardly tilted position to a forward position in whichit may be locked to `the drawer head, thereby to hold the compressorplate out of contact with the drawer contents while ling materialtherein and, on the other hand, may be automatically released as thedrawer proceeds to a fully closed position. e A further object of theinvention is to provide a compressor plate pivoted at its lower edge tothe drawerbody and having means at its upper portion for cooperatingwith a latch device carried by a drawer head whichfis slidably mountedrelative to the drawer body.

p With the above and other objects in view which will more readilyappear as the nature of the invention isl better understood, the sameconsists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in theaccompanying drawing,inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a drawer with a telescopicdrawer head including means for manually locking the compressor to thedrawer head and effecting its automatic release as the drawer proceedsto a fully closed position.

Fig. 2 is a detail horizontal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1showing the keeper on the compressor engaged with the latch.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the inner face of the drawer headof Fig. 1 showing the opening for receiving the keeper and the latch.

According to the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, the drawer head B isprovided with rearwardly directed drawer extensions B2 which slidablyand telescopically engage the drawer body A2 so that the head B isextensible relative to the drawer body.

The compressor C2 is pivoted on the spring pintle or axis I carried bythe brackets 2 secured to the bottom of the drawer body A2 and, when thecompressor is moved away from the drawer contents it may be caused toassume an unrestrained substantially upright position, as shown by theintermediate dotted line position (Fig. 1)

Vapplication J lily 9,

before the drawer head is pulled away from the drawer, or it may alsoassume the forwardly tilted restrained position shown by the dottedlines at the left (Fig. 1) when the drawer head B is extended relativeto the drawer body. In other words, when the drawer is pulled out of thecabinet by means of the handle I3 and the drawer head B has beenextended to any point within the maximum distance provided by thelimiting stops IE5 operating in slots Il, the compressor plate C2 may bemanually swung through a relatively wide are so that the keeper arm 4bthereof engages with the edge of the latch 5b carried by the drawer headto hold the compressor plate at a forward inclination and thus provide awide angle of support vfor the drawer contents when the drawer is openand ling procedure is being conducted.

As will be observed more especially from Fig. 3, the inside face of thedrawer head B is provided, near the upper edge there-of, with an openingor slot I8 which is preferably of vertically elongated formation. Thisopening provides access to the space between the front and rear platesof the drawer head and, as will be apparent from Fig. 2, this spacecontains a bracket I9 of substantially U-shaped formation which ispreferably welded or otherwise secured to the inside face of the outerplate of the drawer head. The arms of said bracket I9 are provided withslots for respectively guiding the head and tail portions of the latch5b, which, as will be apparent from Fig. 3, has its body made insubstantially T-shaped formation so that the head provides a relativelyelongated keeper engaging portion. The shank or tail portion of thelatch body is surrounded by a spring 20 confined between the shoulderprovided by the inner side of the head of the latch and one of the armsof the bracket. Thus the locking edge of the latch 5b is normallyprojected into the opening I8 by the force of the spring 20 and may bepushed backwardly against the compressive force of the spring. It willalso be observed that the length of the edge of the latch 5b exposedwithin the opening I8 is less than the vertical length of the openingitself. The reason for making the keeper engaging edges of the latchshorter than the long dimension of the opening, or alternately makingthe long axis of the opening longer than the effective edge of thelatch, is to provide a clearance space 2| which permits keeper 4b tobecome readily disengaged automatically from the latch when the drawerhead B is fully telescoped relative to the drawer body.

As will be apparent from Fig. 1, when the drawer head B' is fully closedrelative to the drawer body, the compressor plate C2 is not restrainedand assumes the full and dotted line position inclined rearwardly of thedrawer and the stops C rest on the upper edges of the drawer sides. Ifthe drawer becomesy so crowded that the contents move they compressorplate C2 from the full line position to the intermediate dotted lineposition shown in Fig. 1, it will be apparent that the keeper 4b willnot engage with the latch 5b. However, when the drawer head' B is`pulled' outwardly relative to the drawer body, it will then be possibleto manually move the compres# sor C2 forwardly and engage the keeper 4bwith the latch 5b at any point along the length of the edge of the latchdepending` on the distance that the drawer head is pulled away from themain drawer body. In other words, as the keeper 4b swings forwardly inan arc from its vertical position, it will engage the latch 5b.

Assuming that the drawerl head B is pulled outwardly relative to thedrawer body and the keeper 4b is engaged with the latch 5b'L during'filing procedure, and it is desired to close the drawer, th'e operatorsimply exerts pressure oh the drawer head and pushes the drawer into'the cabinet. And, when the drawer body reaches its inward limit ofmovement, the drawer liead'B will then be telescoped or moved inwardlyrelajtive to the drawer body and thus the keeper 4b will slide upwardlyalong Athe edge Vof thel latch 5b until it reacliesthev clearanceZf'above the edge of the latch, whereupon the' keeper becornesautomatically disconnected' from the drawer head and under the influenceofits spring pintle the compressor moves't'oward drawer contents' co`m'pressing position.

From the foregoing, it will be apparentv that under all conditionsV whenthe drawer' head B is closed relative to the drawer body, thev keeper 4bwill be disengaged from the latch 5b. Y Orrthe other hand, when thedrawer headB isextended, the compressor may be manually swung for;wardly so that the keeper 4b becomes4 engaged with the latch to holdthey compressor ir'r the forwardly tilted position shown by dot-tedlines at the extreme left-hand part of? Fig. 1`-. The

closing of the drawer will effect automatic release of the compressor,as above described.

I claim:

1. In a drawer for ling cabinets, a. drawer body, a drawer head slidablymovable with respect to the drawer body, said drawer head comprisinginner and outer plates, the inner plate having an opening, a springlatch mounted between the inner and outer plates of the drawer head andhaving one edge thereof projected partially behind ,said opening, thevertical height of saidy latch being less than the vertical dimension ofthe opening to provide keeper escape clearance, a compressor platepivotally supported on the drawer bottorn adjacent to the inner side ofthe drawer head, and a keeper on the outer face ofthe compressor plate,said keeper being adapted, when the drawer head is moved outwardlyrelative to the drawer body, to engage the portion of the latch exposedbehind the opening anywhere along its length, and when the drawer Headis' no'ved to a4 iull inward position ywith respect te the" drawer'body, the said' keeper escaping over the' upper edge' ofthe latchthrough the said clearance. l

A 2. In a drawer for ling' cabinets, the' combi; nation including adrawer body slidably mounted in the cabinet, a drawer headtelescopically and slidably mounted at the front of the drawer body, acompressor plate pivoted to the drawer body adjacent the drawer headwhen' the' drawer ris closed and manually swingabley from an inwardlytilted drawer contents compressing position to an outwardly tilteddrawer contents spreading posi'- tion, a keeper on the outer face of thecompressor plate having a horizontally disposed' hook, and a latch on'the inner facevof the drawer headsprihg projected into the path ofthehook of the keeper, said' latch having a vertical keeper engagingedge for engaging the hook when the drawer head is extended, andV saidhook belr'igy slidable along said edge of the latch as the drawer headis" moved and permit the compressor plate to to inwardIy' relative to"the drawer until the hook drawer' contents' compressing' position;

CLARENCE w. STRAUBEIZ'.;

